Biology AP Edition
by Jane B. Reece, Neil A. Campbell
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jane B. Reece, Neil A. CampbellEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-12-10
ISBN: 0805367772
Number of pages: 1231
Publisher: Pearson
Book Reviews of Biology AP Edition
Book Review: The Idol of Evolution
Summary: 2 Stars
AP Edition Biology by Neil A. Campbell and Jane B. Reece (Pearson/Benjamin Cummings, 7th Edition, 2005).
Before getting into critical aspects, let me say some good things about this book.
First, some of the illustrations, pointing to marvelous complexity, are particularly noteworthy. Look, for example, at the molecular machine in figure 9.14 (p. 171). The same can be said concerning the flagellum diagram on page 536 (Figure 27.6), and look at the marvelous intricacy of the human placenta (p. 980). How did that self-giving organ evolve? It never evolved. It was created by our marvelous Creator. The blood of mother and child had to be kept separate from the beginning. Look at the creative artistry in accomplishing that task. Yes, and before you complain that I brought in the God-word, let me warn you that the authors do the same. If they can diminish God, then I can praise Him.
There is also something else on that last page (980) worthy of commendation. Though the creature in the womb is labeled a "fetus," it is obvious from the pictures that the babies inside are humans worthy of protection. Even the authors, on the very next page, label a baby inside as being an "infant"! Good for them. It is about at that stage of the p. 981 illustration, by the way, that American doctors can insert something into the skull and suck out the infant's brain. It's called partial-birth abortion--and should obviously be banned!
Now where do the authors talk about God?
The authors talk about God on page 439, where they say that the "Old Testament account of creation ... holds that species were individually designed by God and therefore perfect." This representation, however, is simplistic and is offered without context. First, they are wrong to use the word "species." The Biblical word is "kind," which they seem to assume is equivalent to "species." It is not. Some evolutionists, for example, may separate wolves (Canis lupus) as being a different species from dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Both, however, biblically speaking, can be seen as belonging to the canine-kind. Something similar could be said about cats, horses, cattle, and finches.
Many creationists affirm significant variability within a "kind." Darwin spoke of different finch beaks, but, biblically speaking, all may be of the same "kind."
Additionally, the authors' phrase "and therefore perfect" may suggest to students that naïve creationists would expect to see perfection today, but this is untrue and without context. Genesis also talks about the rebellion of man and the resultant corruption attending that fall. Creation scientists who believe the Bible are well aware of corruption, disease and death. They know that there is much imperfection.
Evolution trumps the Trinity?
The authors also seem willing to substitute their own worshipful words for Christian concepts. For example, Christians believe the Trinity accounts for the unity/diversity dynamic we see in creation. In place of the Trinity, however, the authors account for unit/diversity by pointing to their idol, "evolution." They write: "How can we account for life's dual nature of unity and diversity? The process of evolution ... illuminates both the similarities and differences among Earth's life" (p. 14). Evolution thus substitutes in the place of God.
There is even a heading on the next page: "Evolution accounts for life's unity and diversity." It almost personifies evolution! The authors are wrong, however; the Trinity accounts for unity/diversity in all creation.
Choose against "creating"
Notice, also, on page 19, the challenge: "Explain why `editing' is better than `creating' as a metaphor for how natural selection acts on a population's heritable variation."
Notice how the authors are training students away from "creating" (a notion not far removed from "creation") in the direction of evolutionism. There is an irony here, however, for it rightly implies that natural selection has no creative power. It can only edit (sort out) from organisms already existing, but how, we might ask, did all the "creating" from ooze to "youz" happen? Natural selection is powerless to create a new feature (a wing, flipper, or chrysalis); it can, at best, only select from!
The authors even come out of their religion-of-naturalism closet by saying the following: "the limitations of science are imposed by its naturalism--its seeking of natural causes for natural phenomena." By what right, however, do they impose religious "naturalism" onto science? Do the same people look at a computer and demand that we only allow non-intelligent causes for the computer's existence?
Perhaps the greatest of modern scientists, Isaac Newton, had no problem giving God the credit for all the order he saw in the universe. Why should naturalists force Newton to submit to their foolish rules? Naturalists are like children--
But is it really fair to say that evolution is an idol?
The authors practically say as much. On page 27, they write that "Evolution" is biology's "core theme." In fact, after every one of its 55 chapters, there is an "Evolution Connection" question or paragraph. For example, at the end of chapter 23, the authors ask: "How is the process of evolution revealed by the imperfections of living organisms?"
Such is an extremely biased question. It suggest the possibility that there might be in the fossil record organisms that are only partially formed (as in imperfect)--a partial limb or wing, for example. Well, the fossil record does not record such. What we do see are living but mutated organisms that are blind, lame, or cancerous. Such, however, represent a loss in the genetic makeup. Following the curse of our first parents, things have been running down. My wife, for example, developed leukemia, but the doctors knew this represented a loss from perfection--a degeneration from healthy ("perfect") blood.
Another "Evolution Connection" paragraph is found at the end of chapter 8 (p. 159). It asks the students how to critique "the anti-evolutionary `argument from design,'" but where in the entire book have the authors intended to give students arguments "for" design? They do, however, let some slip in unwittingly. For example, the authors , in a previous chapter, wrote: "We can think of the Golgi (apparatus) as a center of manufacturing, warehousing, sorting, and shipping." What exactly is this apparatus? It's in every cell of our body! Imagine your "simple" cells "manufacturing, warehousing, sorting, and shipping"? If that was not designed, how did all that sorting and shipping ability pop out of a puddle?
Mendel?
To their credit, the authors spent a good amount of time talking about Creation Scientist Gregor Mendel. Of course, I did not see anywhere where they identified him as such, but Nigel Williams in Current Biology (October 14, 2003) said that "Once Gregor Mendel is placed back into the intellectual landscape that he would himself recognize," he would have "seen The Origin of Species as a challenge to his own worldview."
Mendel's ideas, in fact, were essentially ignored for 72 years, because they represented a challenge to Darwin's ideas. Now, Mendel's ideas have been added to Darwin's, but Creation Scientist Mendel knew that there were limits/boundaries to diversity. By way of contrast, Darwin essentially saw no limits--ooze can evolve into "youz." In fact, the authors affirm this explicitly on page 633: "All animals share a common ancestor."
What about Darwin's ego?
I am pleased that the authors put in this quotation from Darwin: "Your words have come true with a vengeance ... so all my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed" (p. 443). Darwin was racing to beat Wallace to the evolution finish-line. These words of Darwin suggest that he was not as much concerned that "truth" get out but for who got the credit for originating it.
There is an irony, however, for according to Loren C. Eiseley, Benjamin Franklin Professor of Anthropology and the History of Science at the University of Pennsylvania before his death, "the leading tenets of Darwin's work -- the struggle for existence, variation, natural selection, and sexual selection -- are all fully expressed" in a paper written by creationist Edward Blyth in 1835.
There is good reason to believe Darwin knew and likely read Blyth's articles, but Darwin did not credit Blyth for the natural selection idea. As a matter of fact, few if any creation scientists have problems with "natural selection," but as we have already seen, natural selection cannot produce a new presence in an organism. It only selects from what is already there!
Sedimentology?
The authors may be ignorant of Sedimentologist Guy Berthault's experiements, for they wrote: "The relative sequence of fossils in rock strata tells us the order in which the fossils were laid down" (p. 517). Berthault, however, has demonstrated that items in upper layers can be laid down before items in lower layers due to the horizontal movement and deposition of water, as in rivers laying down delta deposits.
Essentially all fossils are found in sedimentary rock. Though index fossils can be found over very wide areas, I am not aware of any place in the book where the authors consider the possibility of a global flood drowning and burying billions of plants and animals in layers of sediment which washed up over land as the rising waters intermittently deposited layer over layer with 12-hour intervals of ever ascending high tides due to the cyclical pull of the moon's gravity. Marine fossils are even found on the tops of mountains!
But I like the fact that the authors affirmed, on page 528, that all land masses at one time were connected. Not only does the notion find possible biblical support, but the splitting apart of land masses could account for the separation of animals into isolated groups. Following a global flood, land masses could move more quickly due to less friction.
Chronology?
The authors have swallowed the millions/billions-of-years myth hook line and sinker. For example, the authors speak of "3 billion years" on page 47 and the "3.8-billion-year story of life on Earth" on page 512. They also base this upon "radiometric dating" (p. 517), but many chronometers clash with the long-ages concepts. Helium, for example, in deep granite challenges the conventional, radiometric dating of rocks. Its leak-rate from zircon crystals points to an earth only thousands of years old, not billions. Thus, two different readings relative to rock-age in the very same rock strongly suggest that at least one is wrong.
Radiohalos are rings of color formed around microscopic bits of radioactive minerals in rock crystals. They are fossil evidence of radioactive decay. "Squashed" Polonium-210 radiohalos indicate that Jurassic, Triassic, and Eocene formations in the Colorado plateau were deposited within months of one another, not hundreds of millions of years apart as required by the conventional time scale. There are many more reasons for holding to a YEC view. Persons who would like to receive 50 reasons may ask for a "pdf" attachment of Reasons to Affirm a Young Earth. Write to paulhumber@verizon.net.
Evolution Faith Tramples on Biblical Faith
The authors write: "Earth and the other planets of the solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago, condensing from a vast cloud ... that surrounded the young sun." In other words, Earth came into existence after the sun, but were the authors there? Was anyone there--except God? He created the sun on Day 4, after the earth! Should we believe finite man or infinite God?
No Pasteur!
Though the authors speak of Stanley Miller's pathetic 1953 experiment on page 59 and more extensively on page 513, they apparently have omitted any reference to Creation Scientist Louis Pasteur in their entire, 1231-page book. The Index has 50 pages, but Pasteur is not listed! He "is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccine for rabies and anthrax. His experiments supported the germ theory of disease. He was best known to the general public for inventing a method to stop milk and wine from causing sickness, a process that came to be called pasteurization. He is regarded as one of the three main founders of microbiology.... His body lies beneath the Institute Pasteur in Paris in a spectacular vault covered in depictions of his accomplishments in Byzantine mosaics." See the Wikipedia article on Pasteur ([...]).
Why might the authors have a bias against Pasteur? I believe it is because his scientific experiments strongly supported the notion that life comes only from life, but the scientific establishment, ruling God out by their determined and religiously held naturalism, want to believe, in the face of all odds to the contrary, that life somehow evolved spontaneously!
Simplest?
Though the authors know the cell is not simple, they persist in wanting to suggest simplicity in relation to living cells. On page 94, for example, they wrote: "the cell is the simplest collection of matter that can live." The words, though somewhat misleading, may actually be true, and the authors even display on pages 100-101, the amazing complexity of the cell. On page 513, however, they revert to "very simple cells," but there never was a "very simple cell"--period.
Second Law?
The authors are aware that the Second Law of Thermodynamics challenges evolutionary theory. The Law says that throughout the entire universe things are running down--not building up. Metal rusts, water runs downhill, and life dies. Thus, the authors try to fight against this fact by saying, "The evolution of biological order is perfectly consistent with the laws of thermodynamics" (p. 144). Below that, they refer to "the diffusion of a substance across a membrane." Are you convinced yet?
The Word!
In Dr. John Sanford's book, Genetic Entropy, he wrote: "These small molecules make up the individual steps of the spiral-staircase structure of DNA. These molecules are the letters of the genetic code, and are shown symbolically as A, T, C, and G. These letters are strung together like a linear text. They are not just symbolically shown as letters, they are very literally the letters of our instruction manual. Small clusters or motifs of these four molecular letters make up the words of our manual, which combine to form genes (the chapters of our manual), which combine to form chromosomes (the volumes of our manual), which combine to form the whole genome (the entire library)."
If the molecular DNA is made up of words, could it be that the Word Himself, who became flesh on the First Christmas (John 1:1,14) has His Name on the very DNA of the reader (as in you)? Suggestion: let's stop bowing our knee to Darwin/evolution/ooze-to-"youz" and lift our heart in praise to Jehovah Jesus, the Word who became one of us, the One who created us, and the One who went to the Cross so that we could experience BIO to the full (John 10:10).
Summary of Biology AP Edition
Neil Campbell and Jane Reece's BIOLOGY remains unsurpassed as the most successful majors biology textbook in the world. This text has invited more than 4 million students into the study of this dynamic and essential discipline.The authors have restructured each chapter around a conceptual framework of five or six big ideas. An Overview draws students in and sets the stage for the rest of the chapter, each numbered Concept Head announces the beginning of a new concept, and Concept Check questions at the end of each chapter encourage students to assess their mastery of a given concept. New Inquiry Figures focus students on the experimental process, and new Research Method Figures illustrate important techniques in biology. Each chapter ends with a Scientific Inquiry Question that asks students to apply scientific investigation skills to the content of the chapter.
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